Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Prov, April 5, IRNA - A stray mortar shell hit a rural house in suburbs of Khoda Afarin town in this northwestern province Tuesday morning leaving no casualties, said Deputy Governor-General for Political and Security Affairs of theis northwestern province Saeed Shabestari.

The mortar shell which hit the yard of the rural house also shattered windows of the nearby buildings, Shabestari said.
He added that the shell was fired as a result of the ongoing military clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Karabakh.

Military experts believed that the mortar shell was fired by the Armenian forces.

Tthe escalation of tensions between Baku and Yerevan over Karabakh region and military conflict in their border lines on April 2 led to exchange of fire and killing of a number of Azeri and Armenian soldiers.



The clashes have so far left over 30 dead and scores of injured.

On April 3, Azerbaijan has declared a unilateral ceasefire with Armenia in the disputed enclave however the Azeri Defense Ministry said that three of its troopers were killed as the Armenians fired mortar shells at Azeri positions and attacked them using grenade launchers on Monday.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday talked to his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan on phone stressing the need to find a peaceful settlement for the conflict.

Meanwhile, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier-General Jaafar Dehqan has so far made separate telephone calls to his Azeri and Armenian counterparts urging them to stop military conflict as soon as possible and exercise self-restraint.

Additionally, A meeting is to be held in the Iranian northern city of Ramsar in Mazandaran Province today with the participation of the Iranian foreign minister and his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Turkey to discuss recent clashes between Baku and Yerevan forces.

Another report by Russian media said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to visit Baku on Thursday (April 7) to meet with Iranian and Azeri counterparts and discuss the escalation of conflict in Karabakh.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.